Next on to the stanchions(hold the life lines to the boat) to try and tighten them up. There is some play in them when you hold on to them. Loosened some of the screws that hold them and retightened them. Helped some of the stanchions but some are just loose in their fittings. They will still do their jobs.
I moved the six person life raft to the port side at the stern. It's an easy place to keep it. The photo shows lots of safety equipment. The life raft attaches to the stern of the boat with a strap so that if it gets deployed, it will inflate when it reaches the end of its strap. The rules of life rafts is that you don't use it until you have to step UP into it. You stay with your boat until it is going down. A big boat is a lot easier to see than a small life raft. The problem is that many people who think their boat is going down get into the life raft and abandon their boat when it's not necessary. Many times, the boat is found later--not in good shape but still floating.
Top left--Life sling. If someone goes overboard, you throw the life preserver that is stored in the bag to them. It's attached to a line so that as you turn the boat toward the person that fell overboard they can reach the life preserver and can be pulled on board.
Next, the traditional style of life preserver--throw it and hope they can catch it.
The white box is our new EPIRB--Emergency Position Indicator Radio Beacon. If some thing should happen to Zephyr, it will automatically eject the beacon and it will transmit our position to the proper authorities so that they can come and save us. The signal it sends out will be picked up by commercial boats, passing airplanes as well as the Coast Guard. When you buy the beacon you MUST register it with the federal government giving them all the information on your boat as well as contact information in case the beacon goes off. Any serious cruiser should have one on board.
There is a storage cabinet built into the deck near the stern of the boat. Every time it rains, water tends to collect in it. I had put a seal around the hatch to it but water still gets in. That means that the things stored in it will be sitting in the water--bad! I found raised grid squares(12" X 12 ") that lock together and will keep every thing in the cabinet out of the water. They got installed this afternoon. The first four were easy, the rest had to be custom cut to fit the space. Now things will stay dryer.
Next, I lubricated all the snaps and fasteners on the bimini. That's the canvas cover that goes over the cockpit. It has lots of panels that snap on and off as we need them We can totally close off the cockpit if necessary to protect us from the elements. It also gives us an extra room when we are in port. When closed off, it is a great place to sit and read, with an occasional snooze. The snaps and catches that hold it together as a unit needed some lubrication so they will work easier. While I was at it, it did the catches on the main sail cover too.
We took lots of things off Zephyr that we felt we would not be using on this trip. They all went back to the storage room. We can pick them up when we get back next month. This way, there will be more room for essentials and less things that may go bump as we sail up the coast.
We had our neighbors over to tour Zephyr this afternoon. They had never been aboard and really wanted to see our boat. Since we will be gone when they return in a few weeks, now was their last chance. We gave them the royal tour showing them everything Zephyr has to offer.
Tomorrow, still more things to do as we wait for the right weather window. We had 25+ knots of wind throughout the afternoon. All from the North--just where we want to go.
1 comment:
Bill,
They are starting to catch Albacore Tuna over there. Often there is a boat selling them near the brewry. They are absolutely wonderful, better than good beef steak. Be good on the way north.
Dave
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